IT'S amazing what a few goals - and a trademark dance of delight - can do for a player's career. Just ask Roger Milla, who was 38 years old when he set the World Cup alight in Italia '90 with four goals for Cameroon, each of which was followed by a corner-flag rhumba. Those goals and extravagant celebrations will never be forgotten by football fans around the world, from Burnley to Beijing, Glasgow to Guangzhou and from Sheffield, South Yorkshire, to Shenzhen, south China. Shenzhen, with its magnificent new sports stadium and perfect pitch, hosted Milla and his Cameroon colleagues on Thursday, when an own goal earned the Africans a 1-0 victory over a Shenzhen XI. Although Milla did not score, his presence in the second half certainly livened up his teammates and the match. But it was the scenes after the match which highlighted the aura surrounding Milla. Mobbed by aggressive and persistent autograph-hunters - how well he did to keep his temper in check - immediately after the final whistle, hundreds of fans blocked the main entrance to the stadium and prevented the players from boarding their bus back to the hotel. As the fans chanted ''Mill-a, Mill-a'', the convoy of vehicles had to enter the stadium through a side door and collect the players, under heavy police escort. And all this for a football player who will be 42 on May 20; for a player who came out of retirement only in January at the request of the people of Cameroon to lead their side into the World Cup. Abed Nego Messang, from the Cameroon Radio Television Corporation in Yaounde, said Milla, married with two sons, had kept himself in such good shape by never touching alcohol or tobacco. His comeback for Tonnere Yaounde last January attracted 120,000 people to the 80,000-capacity stadium for a match which would normally have drawn 10,000 people. ''You got grandmothers with back pains coming to the football; you got children and all the members of the government and diplomatic corps there to watch Roger Milla,'' said Messang. ''After Nelson Mandela, Milla must be the second most prominent African in the world. If the white man says there is one God in the sky, the Cameroon people will say his name is Roger Milla. ''Maybe he is the God of football because he is the first for our people. For him, football is a religion and when you believe in something you can do it.'' Football is not the only game for Milla, however, as he is very keen on basketball and tennis and is also president of the Tonnere Yaounde women's handball team. Much of the money he earns from sport goes back into sport as he sends donations all over the country to support teams and tournaments. So when will Milla retire again? ''Don't ask him because even he does not know what tomorrow will bring,'' said Messang. But the word from his teammates was: don't rule out the 1998 World Cup in France, where he spent over 12 years as a professional with Valenciennes, Monaco, Bastia (twice), St Etienne, Montpellier and La Pontoise. Rangers gain Celt for a day ANY Scotsmen attending the recent Hong Kong First Division match between Rangers and Sing Tao must have been rubbing their eyes in disbelief. For the red-shirted Hong Kong Rangers, founded in 1959 by Scotsman Ian Petrie and named after his heroes of Glasgow Rangers, were being led out by a mascot wearing, of all things, a Celtic shirt. The mascot was seven-year-old Christopher Watson, who was born in Hong Kong when his father, Chris, was in the territory with the Royal Navy. The family returned to Hong Kong in December, ending young Chris' ever-present record on Celtic's Parkhead terraces this season. Chris Snr met Rangers captain Trevor Quow a couple of days before the match at Mongkok Stadium and Trevor kindly arranged for Chris Jnr to run out in front of the team and warm up with the players before the kick-off, wearing his Celtic away strip. So how did Chris Snr persuade his son to lead out a team named after their deadly Glasgow rivals, Celtic? ''First of all we told him Trevor Quow was a Celtic fan,'' Chris Snr said. ''Then we promised not to tell anyone back home in Scotland. He's a member of the Winchburgh and District Celtic Supporters' Club - but if they find out about this he might be banned for life!'' Young Watson's presence spurred Rangers to a 2-1 victory . . . but Chris refuses to reveal whether or not he cheered when the goals went in. Pistols lead to Tim's trouble SO Hong Kong rugby is to lose another fine servant in Tim Leach, who has shed blood for the territory, if not on the pitch then most certainly off it, during his five years here. The 30-year-old Kowloon scrum-half, who is returning to England with his family next month, made a swashbuckling international debut against South Korea in the Asian Rugby Football Tournament in Sri Lanka in 1990. Taller and stronger than your average scrum-half, Tim made his presence felt early in the game with a crunching tackle on a Korean flanker. It's a pity the referee's whistle had blown about two seconds before the tackle but, not to worry, the Koreans knew they were in a game. At the official dinner to mark the conclusion of the 1990 tournament, Hong Kong's players produced a colourful arsenal of water pistols. The Japanese, sitting on the next table after having just lost the final to Korea, were in no mood for party games and the scene turned ugly. Poor old Leachy, a peace-maker during dinner, was the unfortunate one to pay for Hong Kong's antics later in the evening when Japan's Samoan second-rower sought retribution in a taxi rank . . . and left a bruised and battered Tim seeing stars. So, when the new-look Hong Kong team are searching for that extra bit of fire in the 1994 Asian tournament in Malaysia this October, hopefully they will find it - for the sake of Tim Leach. Sports Person of the Week: Martin Offiah - two tries for the Wigan wing wonder in their 26-16 Rugby League Challenge Cup final victory over Leeds at Wembley last weekend. Sports Quote of the Week: ''I still have a taste for speed. Senna always gave me support and he will be in my head for ever. He left the world as a winner, a victorious bloke'' - Ayrton Senna's fellow-Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello, who survived a serious practice crash two days before Senna's death, vowing to continue driving.